Readability laws for ballot measure language
From Ballotpedia
Readability laws for ballot measure language govern how legislators, secretaries of state, or other election officials write the question or description of a ballot measure. As of 2025, 23 states have passed laws related to ballot measure readability.
Readability laws require ballot question language that is considered plain, simple, clear, or easily understood, often targeting specific reading levels for comprehension.
HIGHLIGHTS
States with laws governing ballot measure readability
Twenty-one states have enacted laws governing ballot measure readability.
States with readability laws for ballot measures
| Comparison of state laws | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| State | Statutory language | Text link | |
| Alabama | "A plain language summary of the statewide ballot measure, which shall include, at a minimum, the legal or constitutional authority for its passage, the effect of the statewide ballot measure if it is passed, including its cost and source of funding, and the effect of the statewide ballot measure if it is defeated. ...Ballot statements shall be written in plain, nontechnical language and in a clear and coherent manner using words with common and every day meaning that are understandable to the average reader." | Alabama Code Title 17. Elections § 17-6-81 | |
| Arkansas | "The Attorney General shall not certify a proposed ballot title with a reading level above eighth grade as determined by the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level formula as it existed on January 1, 2025" | Arkansas Code § 7-9-107 | |
| Alaska | "The policy of the state is to prepare a ballot proposition that is clear, concise, and easily readable. The form of each ballot proposition shall be scored under (c) of this section. The policy of the state is to prepare a ballot proposition that is scored at approximately 60." | Alaska Stat. § 15.80.005 | |
| Florida | "Each joint resolution that proposes a constitutional amendment or revision shall include one or more ballot statements set forth in order of priority. Each ballot statement shall consist of a ballot title, by which the measure is commonly referred to or spoken of, not exceeding 15 words in length, and a ballot summary that describes the chief purpose of the amendment or revision in clear and unambiguous language." | Florida. Stat. Ann. § 101.161(1) | |
| Colorado | "In setting a title, the title board shall consider the public confusion that might be caused by misleading titles and shall, whenever practicable, avoid titles for which the general understanding of the effect of a 'yes/for' or 'no/against' vote will be unclear." | Colorado Revised Statutes § 1-40-106 | |
| Hawaii | "The language and meaning of a constitutional amendment shall be clear and it shall be neither misleading nor deceptive." | Hawaii Revised Statutes § 11-118.5 | |
| Idaho | "The ballot shall include a clear and concise statement as to the effect of a 'yes' or 'no' vote, prepared jointly by the attorney general and secretary of state." | Idaho Statutes Titles § 34-1810 | |
| Louisiana | "The proposition shall be comprised of simple, unbiased, concise, and easily understood language and be in the form of a question. The proposition shall not exceed two hundred words in length and shall not include words that are struck through, underscored, or in boldface type." | Louisiana Revised Statutes Titles § 1299.1 | |
| Maine | "The Secretary of State shall write the question in a clear, concise and direct manner that describes the subject matter of the people's veto or direct initiative as simply as is possible." | Maine Revised Statutes §905-A | |
| Michigan | "The summary must be clearly written using words that have a common everyday meaning to the general public." | Michigan Election Law 168.482b | |
| Mississippi | "The statement shall avoid, whenever possible, the use of legal terminology or jargon and shall use instead, simple, ordinary, everyday language." | Mississippi Code Title § 23-15-369 | |
| Montana | "The ballot statements must express the true and impartial explanation of the proposed ballot issue in plain, easily understood language and may not be arguments or written so as to create prejudice for or against the issue." | Montana Title § 13-27-312 | |
| New Jersey | "Any public question voted upon at an election shall be presented in simple language that can be easily understood by the voter. " | New Jersey Rev Stat § 19:3-6 | |
| New York | "[A] descriptive title of up to fifteen words, which describes the topic, goal, or outcome of the ballot question in plain language; b. a summary of the text ballot proposal of up to thirty words, written in plain language, that describes the change in policy to be adopted and not the legal mechanism; and c. a statement of what a YES or NO vote means in up to thirty words written in plain language that identifies the practical outcome of each election result and not the legal mechanism." | New York Consolidated Laws § 4-108 | |
| North Dakota | "[T]he secretary of state shall cause to be printed a statement of the estimated fiscal impact of the constitutional amendment or initiated or referred measure and a concise statement of the effect of an affirmative or negative vote on the constitutional amendment or initiated or referred measure written in plain, clear, understandable language using words with common, everyday meaning." | North Dakota Century Code § 16.1-06-09 | |
| Oklahoma | "Shall explain in basic words, which can be easily found in dictionaries of general usage, the effect of the proposition; 3. Shall not contain any words which have a special meaning for a particular profession or trade not commonly known to the citizens of this state." | Oklahoma Statutes Title 34-9 | |
| Oregon | "A simple and understandable statement of not more than 25 words that describes the result if the state measure is approved. .. Any thing or action described both in the statement required by paragraph (b) of this subsection and in the statement required by this paragraph shall be described using the same terms in both statements, to the extent practical. Any different terms must be terms that an average elector would understand to refer to the same thing or action." | Oregon Revised Statutes § 250.035 | |
| Pennsylvania | "Whenever a proposed constitutional amendment or other State-wide ballot question shall be submitted to the electors of the Commonwealth in referendum, the Attorney General shall prepare a statement in plain English which indicates the purpose, limitations and effects of the ballot question on the people of the Commonwealth." | Pennsylvania Statutes Title § 2621.1. | |
| Rhode Island | "When an act of the general assembly is passed authorizing the submission of a question to all of the electors of the state, the secretary of state is authorized to rephrase the question to appear on the ballot in a manner that would clearly apprise the voters of the question to be voted upon and to cause the ballot to contain a concise caption of the question, and the full text of the question as adopted by the general assembly need not appear on the ballot except for proposed amendments to the Constitution of the state of Rhode Island., but shall: (i) Require that the question shall be stated in plain language reasonably calculated to be understood by persons with an eighth-grade reading level." | Rhode Island General Laws § 17-5-1.1, 17-5-3 and 17-5-5 | |
| South Carolina | "In addition to all other requirements of law and the Constitution of this State, when any proposed amendment to the Constitution is submitted to the electorate for approval or disapproval in the general election and the proposed amendment is of such nature that it might not be clearly understood by the voters, a simplified or, when appropriate, more detailed explanation of the meaning and effect of such amendment shall be placed upon the ballot along with the proposed amendment question." | South Carolina Code Ann. § 7-13-2110 | |
| Tennessee | "[I]f the question is a state constitutional amendment, the question shall be preceded by a brief summary of the proposal written in a clear and coherent manner using words with common everyday meanings." | Tennessee Code Ann. § 2-5-208 | |
| Texas | "The ballot for a measure seeking voter approval of the issuance of debt obligations by a political subdivision shall specifically state: (1) a plain language description of the single specific purposes for which the debt obligations are to be authorized." | Texas Government Code Sec. 1251.001. | |
| Virginia | "The explanation shall contain the ballot question, the full text of the proposed constitutional amendment, and a statement of not more than 500 words on the proposed amendment. The explanation shall be presented in plain English, shall be limited to a neutral explanation" | Virginia Code Ann. §30-19.9 | |
Legislation
The following is a list of bills passed, beginning in 2016, related to ballot measure language.
2025
- Arkansas House Bill 1713: The bill prohibited the attorney general from certifying an initiative's ballot title if it is above an eighth-grade reading level as determined by the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level formula as it existed on January 1, 2025.[1]
2024
- Rhode Island Bill 7476 / Bill 2447: The bill required ballot questions to be written to be understood by a person with an eighth-grade reading level.[2]
2023
- New York Senate Bill 1381: SB 1381 required that state ballot measure questions be written in plain language and at no higher than an eighth-grade reading level.[3]
- North Dakota Senate Bill 2163: SB 2163 required summaries of ballot measures to be written in "plain, clear, understandable language using words with common, everyday meaning." As of 2023, the secretary of state, in consultation with the attorney general, was responsible for writing the ballot summaries.[4]
2019
- Maine Legislative Document 534: The legislation provided that the secretary of state's office must write ballot questions "as simply as is possible," provide explanations of the effects of "yes" and "no" votes, and eliminated the rule that required a "yes" vote on a veto referendum to mean repealing the targeted legislation.[5]
- Texas Senate Bill 30: SB 30 required a plain language description of the single specific purpose for which the bonds were to be authorized.[6]
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ Arkansas State Legislature, "HB 1713," accessed April 16, 2025
- ↑ Rhose Island State Legislature, "HB 7476," accessed June 17, 2024
- ↑ New York State Legislature, "Senate Bill S1381A," accessed November 17, 2023
- ↑ North Dakota State Legislature, "Senate Bill 2163," accessed March 24, 2023
- ↑ Maine State Legislature, "Legislative Document 534," accessed June 27, 2023
- ↑ Texas State Legislature, "Senate Bill 30," accessed June 27, 2023
